Today we’re kicking off with the first post in our new series on the Best Idea Cup 2019! Over the coming weeks, we’d like to present each of the business ideas developed as part of the student competition. Anna Michel and Pedro Ribeiro are leading the way with their holistic reading promotion system, STREEN.
In the digital age, books and reading are increasingly taking a back seat. Motivation to read is waning and reading skills are being lost.
Learning to read is influenced by many factors: cognitive abilities, the family environment or a lack of effective teaching methods. These factors are often overlooked when promoting reading and are neglected by existing programmes.
Anna Michel, a student on the Master’s programme in International Management and Psychology, and research assistant Pedro Ribeiro recognised this problem and undertook research to find a solution. The aim was to create a holistic system for promoting reading that supports the full range of aspects involved in learning to read.
The resulting system, STREEN, together with its accompanying app, was developed in collaboration with primary school pupils and teachers. STREEN stands for Story Reading Environmental Enrichments. It offers users various functions such as a read-aloud feature, a dictionary and a recording function. STREEN also offers an educational programme for teachers to use in the classroom, as well as a specialised teacher training course.
Michel and Ribeiro are among the lucky winners of the ‘Best Idea Cup 2019’ and are aiming to apply for the EXIST start-up grant.
